Puntus bows to Belarus pressure
Friday, November 3, 2006
Article summary
Yuri Puntus is to step down from his role as coach of club side FC MTZ-RIPO Minsk to dedicate himself fully to Belarus in UEFA EURO 2008™ qualifying.
Article body
Yuri Puntus is to step down as coach of FC MTZ-RIPO Minsk in order to dedicate himself to his role with Belarus.
Final outing
The 45-year-old will take charge of MTZ-RIPO for the last time tomorrow against FC Gomel, in the final fixture of the 2006 campaign, and will then have no distraction from his job as coach of the national team. "I will make no secret of the fact I wanted to continue combining my jobs next season," admitted Puntus, who took the Belarus post in February. "But after talks with the Belarus Football Federation and given the comments in the media on this matter I understood that I had to make a choice."
U21 success
Named as Belarus's Coach of the Year five times since 1999, Puntus established his reputation at international level by leading Belarus to the 2004 UEFA European Under-21 Championship finals. Belarus are fourth in UEFA EURO 2008™ qualifying Group G and face Luxembourg in their next qualifier on 24 March 2007. MTZ-RIPO have no chance of winning the Belarussian title, with leaders FC BATE Borisov holding a three-point advantage over FC Dinamo Minsk before the decisive final round tomorrow.
